Honeymoon Watch

Rick Klein writes for ABC News's The Note that it's a "make-or-break week" for the Obama agenda in the Senate: "The message he wanted to send with the stimulus package -- a new tone of bipartisan cooperation and coordinated action -- has been lost in old Washington games, as the opposition party finds its voice. If Obama's going to salvage something out his first bipartisan push -- other than Super Bowl leftovers -- it's going to have to happen here and now, with the men and women he once called colleagues."

Why is up to Obama to "salvage" something here? He's going to ge the stimulus bill passed. Despite his paying unusual attention to Congressional Republicans, and adding compromise tax cuts to the bill, House Republicans obeyed John Boehner's instructions to vote against the bill even before Obama came to the Hill to meet with them.

Obama has expended more effort on bipartisanship in the first two weeks of his term than George Bush did in eight years. If the Republicans want to spurn those efforts, and pretend that their views weren't rejected by a decisive majority of the voters, they can also bear the blame for the lack of bipartisanship.

Only a week to fix it all up, eh? That would be about the shortest presidential honeymoon on record. Well, times may be too tight for a honeymoon in any case. But if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. We'll see how many black eyes the Republicans want. Some call it bipartisanship, some call it it jiu-jitsu.

The Republicans never lost their voice, only some seats in Congress (along with the Presidency); and those who hold office continue to be Obama's colleagues (given the fact that they were all elected to office).

As for his cordiality towards his Republican colleagues, how would this be affected by the winning or losing of votes? The Republicans' cordiality towards him--never much to begin with--will only change if they lose their sense of humor while continuing to cast losing votes (as indeed they shall).

Klein apparently needs to watch fast-breaking stories about winning and losing--a need best met by watching soap operas. Posing as a reporter just does him an injustice.